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Aryna Sabalenka weighed into the participation of transgender athletes, saying it would be unfair for women to face “biological men” in professional tennis.
The WTA Tour Gender Participation Policy currently permits transgender women to participate if they have declared their gender as female for a minimum of four years, have lowered testosterone levels and agree to testing procedures – below 2.5 nmol/L (nanomoles per litre) for the previous two years.
These conditions may be further varied by the WTA Medical Manager on a case-by-case basis.
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Highlights of the US Open final between Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova
Asked about transgender athletes in an interview with Piers Morgan, four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka said: “That’s a tricky question. I have nothing to do against them.
“But I feel like they still got a huge advantage over the women and I think it’s not fair on women to face basically biological men,” added the Belarusian, who was on the show to promote her ‘Battle of the Sexes’ clash with Nick Kyrgios on December 28 in Dubai.
“It’s not fair. The woman has been working her whole life to reach her limit and then she has to face a man, who is biologically much stronger, so for me I don’t agree with this kind of stuff in sport.”
Former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios said he agreed with Sabalenka, adding: “I think she hit the nail on the head.”
There have been no examples of transgender players competing in professional tennis in recent years.
Transgender tennis player Renee Richards competed on the WTA Tour from 1977 to 1981, before coaching tennis great and gay rights trailblazer Martina Navratilova.
Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova faced each other in a ‘Battle of Champions’ in 1992
Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, has been an outspoken critic of the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sport.
Others, like Billie Jean King – the 12-time Grand Slam singles champion who won the original ‘Battle of the Sexes’ in 1973 – see transgender exclusion as discrimination.
In 2024, the Lawn Tennis Association updated its rules to bar transgender women from competing in national and inter-club female competitions.
In the past two years, several sports federations have launched their own studies or changed rules to ban anyone who has gone through male puberty from competing in the female category at an elite level.
Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King arm wrestle at a press conference, where they announced they would face each other in a $100,000 winner-take-all tennis match
Transgender advocacy groups say excluding trans athletes amounts to discrimination.
Critics of transgender inclusion in women’s sport say going through male puberty imbues athletes with a huge musculo-skeletal advantage that transition does not mitigate.
Marta Kostyuk claims she was at a disadvantage against players like Sabalenka and Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek because they have a higher level of testosterone than her
In the same interview, Sabalenka was asked about recent comments from Marta Kostyuk, the Ukrainian world No 26, who had claimed in October that she was at a disadvantage against players like Sabalenka and Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek because they have a higher level of testosterone than her.
“All I hear here is just excuses,” Sabalenka replied. “It’s actually quite funny, because she [Kostyuk] is a strong girl, and she probably has more muscles than I do and she looks fit and strong, and I think that [a difference in testosterone levels] is not the case in all the matches she lost against top players.”
The WTA did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Reuters news agency.
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